IN AND IN BREEDING. 
215 
it lie four to six months, then toss it over for use. 
Put no lime with this compost. Fourth, unleached 
ashes at the rate of 15 bushels per cord, will also 
make a good compost. Fifth, it may be spread 
broadcast upon the land and plowed in, in the fall of 
the year, but composting is much preferable. 
No. 3 is rather a poor quality of muck, or more 
properly, pond mud. The best application of this is 
to spread it broadcast upon grass land, one inch thick, 
in the fall of the year. If it be not too far to cart, it 
may be used as a top-dressing on grass. The only 
way to test its value is to make some little experiments 
with it. 
(b) We doubt whether it will pay to put either 
nitrate of soda or saltpetre with these specimens. 
The former would be the most valuable, as it contains 
17 per cent, more nitrogen in it than the latter, and 
has been found about that per centage the most effi¬ 
cient in vegetation. Saltpetre is worth 7 to 8 cents 
per lb., nitrate of soda 4| to 5£ cents. 
(c) Our correspondent does not say with what 
grain the land was sown, but we suppose wheat or 
rye—probably the latter. 
(d) The land was very poor and should have had 
a clover or buckwheat crop or two, first plowed in. 
But it would have been still better to have manured 
it with 30 cords per acre, of good barn-yard manure, 
or compost made as recommended above, then planted 
with corn or potatoes, and follow with grain and seed, 
down to grass. The rich animal matter of the fish 
was in too great a proportion unquestionably to the 
other ingredients in the soil, necessary for the grain 
crop, and hence blasting and mildew. Had a com¬ 
post of fish and peat been applied to the land, follow¬ 
ed with a hoed crop, then limed or ashed at the rate 
of 50 bushels per acre, our correspondent would have 
doubtless obtained good crops. To answer his ques¬ 
tions more fully, would lead us into an elaborate 
essay, and we must refer to the preceding volumes of 
this periodical for information. In conclusion we 
would say, that 2^ bushels of charcoal mixed with 
1,000 fish, would >r\ake a very good compost. There 
is brush enough which can be gathered every year 
from most any f?rm, to make considerable quantities 
of charcoal, and it is so small, that it would burn a 
first-rate fine quality, fit for immediate use. 
W< AND IN BREEDING. 
The following letter was addressed to Mr. L. F. 
Allen by a gentleman in Ohio. For the satisfaction 
of all those who may be interested in such matters, 
we insert it with the reply. Mr. A. does well to 
recommend caution in the matter of in and in breed¬ 
ing; for it not only requires great knowledge, judg¬ 
ment, and experience, but the genius almost of a 
Bake well, to pursue it safely to any extent. We 
should just as soon attempt to instruct a three year 
old child how to use a sharp razor without injuring 
itself, as the great mass of the public upon the 
science of in and in breeding. It is one of those 
things we have as yet said little about in our periodi¬ 
cal, because we have thought it could do little or no 
good : 
“ I have derived much information from the Agri¬ 
culturist on various subjects, but none on this point, 
viz, the effect of breeding with animals nearly relat¬ 
ed. I do not know what is the technical term ; but 
this is what I wish to know': 1 buy one bull, or buck, 
or boar, with the idea of improving the breeds. Well, 
the next generation are his own calves, or lambs, or 
pigs. Or, if I breed from the progeny, they are own 
brothers or sisters. You get my idea. What I want 
to know is the effect of this breeding upon the stock. 
There seems to be reason in prohibiting near rela¬ 
tions, men or animals, breeding together. Is there 
any physiological injury in such breeding ? Or must 
I buy several animals to prevent this ? Within what 
degrees of relationship is breeding admissible, if it is 
prohibited at all ? Now this may be a very familiar 
matter to others; but I have no knowledge whatever 
on the subject and only a vague idea that there should 
be some prohibitions—that a male should not be bred 
to his own sister, or his own offspring, and perhaps, 
father. May I ask of you to occupy one of your 
valuable letters to the Agriculturist with this subject 
soon ? Inquirer.” 
“ Breeding in and in ” is the term used among 
breeders of stock, when close breeding, that is, fa¬ 
ther to daughter, son to mother, brother to sister, and 
all near affinities, are practised. This will do very 
well, and to a considerable extent, where certain val¬ 
uable qualities are desired, which the animals you 
wish to breed from possess. But to do so success¬ 
fully for any number of generations, requires great 
strength of constitution and general stamina in the 
animals on both sides, and long experience, great 
judgment in the breeder to select such animals as sires 
and dams, to accomplish it successfully ; and there¬ 
fore, for the general or casual breeder, I would recom¬ 
mend that “ in and in breeding ” be carried no farther 
than one generation—that is, the sire may be put to 
his own daughter, and the son to his own mother, for 
one generation only, not to be continued to grandson 
or granddaughter, unless under the circumstances I 
have alluded to above. Brother to sister is consider¬ 
ed closer breeding than sire to daughter, or son to 
mother, and of course not so much practised among 
scientific breeders. In merely raising common cat¬ 
tle, this subject is little thought of, and the plan need 
not be practised ; but it has been by in and in breed¬ 
ing-that the finest animals in the world, and the 
celebrated “ improved ” domestic stock of all sorts, 
have been produced ; and to do so with success is a 
nice and most scientific course of proceedure, which, 
with our helter-skelter American notions, our farmers 
will be slow to adopt. Our people, as a body, will 
not pay for all this pains; and till we get more re¬ 
fined notions about these things, and better appreciate 
the value of good breeds of all animals, the nice, 
pains-taking breeder will hardly get remunerated for 
his trouble. Improvements, both in theory and prac¬ 
tice, however, are slowly progressing in our country, 
and the time may finally arrive when the value of 
good breeding in our domestic animals will be pro¬ 
perly appreciated. 
To go further into explanation of the science of 
breeding would require a labored essay, which I have 
neither the time nor the ability at present to write; 
and I trust that before long the pages of the Agricul¬ 
turist will inform its readers on that subject. There 
have already been published some selections in that 
paper, which may be read with profit by any consid¬ 
erate breeder of domestic stock. L. F. Allen. 
Black BocJc, June 10 , 1845. 
